An androgen receptor (AR) found in the cytoplasm of cells interacts with the sex hormone testosterone.Â
A repeating nucleotide base sequence, CAG, found in the gene for AR has been associated with the risk of developing prostate cancer.
The table below shows the results of two statistical tests which found an association between the number of CAG repeats and the risk of developing prostate cancer.
Number of CAG repeats in AR gene |
Association is significant at this probability level |
≤ 10 |
0.02 |
≥ 20 |
0.25 |
A null hypothesis stated that:
'There is no significant association between the number of CAG repeats and the risk of developing prostate cancer'
Identify the conclusion which can be drawn from the data in the table.
With 20 or more CAG repeats we can reject the null hypothesis
Prostate cancer is more likely with 20 or more CAG repeats, with a more than a 5% probability that the association is due to chance
With 10, or fewer than 10, CAG repeats the association is not-significant at the 5% probability level
With 10, or fewer than 10, CAG repeats the association is significant and there is a less than 5% probability that the association is due to chance